FA CUP: SELHURST PARK, FEBRUARY 2, 2010. KICK OFF: 2000 GMTWOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS:
Mick McCarthy was fortunate to avoid an exit from the fourth round at Molineux and the Wolves manager believes the task will be even harder in their second meeting because of Crystal Palace's recent struggles.
McCarthy is warning Wolves to beware the wounded animal that is Neil Warnock's Palace as they heads into the replay at Selhurst Park, with a home game against Aston Villa as the prize for the winners.
Fearing a backlash after Palace's recent slide into administration and the sale of star asset Victor Moses to Wigan, McCarthy said "Being the underdog and having everything conspire against you just makes you fight harder.
"This sort of thing doesn't bother Neil Warnock. He will relish it. He will try to turn it into a positive to motivate his team. Warny will be all right. Talk about resilience and toughness. He's got all of that and he's a master at getting the best out of his teams.
"He will be saying the whole world is against Palace and reminding his players that they will play Villa if they beat us. Their situation worries me because it will be the old wounded animal bit. I don't look on it as being any easier because of their plight. They will still be scrapping."
Strategy: McCarthy, despite having an eye on Sunday's Premier League derby at Birmingham, is planning to field a stronger side than in his club's previous two games in this season's competition. Although he will give a first start to recent signing Geoffrey Mujangi Bia in place of winger Matt Jarvis, he is unlikely to make wholesale changes from the side who twice hit back to draw at Hull on Saturday.
"I have a few knocks other than 'Jarvo' and Kevin Doyle and won't take any risks," he added. "But all those who are okay might be playing. "We want to win and stay in the cup. The draw has given this replay a bit more spice for both clubs. If we win, nobody will say the Cup is getting in the way. It isn't taxing us too much. There's no point working as hard as we did after trailing for so long in the first match with Palace and coming up with a wonderful goal from Ronald Zubar, and then not treating this as an important match."
Injury Update: Stefan Maierhofer could return after a hernia operation but the game will come too early for Andy Keogh, Dave Edwards and Michael Kightly, who continue their rehabilitation from ankle injuries.
CRYSTAL PALACE:
Warnock loves nothing better than a siege mentality and administration is likely to make his side even stronger. They should have beaten Wolves in the first game and will fancy their chances in front of the cameras, after being buoyed by a comfortable league win over Peterborough on Saturday.
